Griz vs CSU game thread

[ozzie]

Now that my anger has simmered. I'm just going to say that there is a light at the end of the tunnel. a very solid looking team. very athletic and a lot of skill by the sophomores. our bigs are a worry, but tinkle has a great way of working with what he has got and Im sure come conference play we will be a well oiled machine.

 

[rams4782]

Good game last night guys, you have a very solid team. I agree the officiating was horrendous, the refs were way too whistle happy. CSU was on the receiving end of some extremely questionable calls, too. That being said, I don't think the officiating was the determining factor in the game. CSU shot 30% in the first half..partly due to the Montana defense, but we also missed a ton of wide open looks. In the second half Iverson took over down low and Eikmeir got going too (0 pts at half, 10 in 2nd half). You could tell CSU was breaking in a lot of new players into our rotation (Iverson, Bejarano, Octeus, Santo, and De Ciman) as we were pretty tentative in the first half. Regardless, I think both teams have a lot to look forward to this season. Best of luck and hopefully we see each other in the dance. Go Rams!

 

[citygriz]

this game just re-establishes tinks's cred as a recruiter. deshields and jamar were the two best players on the floor--and cherry would have made it three. we got mugged by the refs and were virtually defenseless in the post, yet even here tinks would have had an answer with reader and kovacevic. but give credit to c.s.u.--they recruited the refs.

yet this game may have been first hint of how much we'll miss bill evans. we stayed man the entire second half, while their bigs muscled in again and again for short shots. i'm thinking, "zone! zone! zone! prove they can hit from the outside"--which they weren't. or how about some full-court trapping pressure such as i saw montana apply two years ago against a much more ahtletic u.s.f. team, a tactic that nearly won us a game that with a few minutes left looked absolutely unwinnable. thanks to tinks, we've got athleticism all over the floor. seems to me we have options on defense we haven't explored, and certainly didn't last night.

it's so hard as a mid-major to get all the pieces in place at the same time. thus you have a kyrsko up front, but not much around him. or a qvale-selvig combo, but too much youth at the other positions. this was the year all the chips would have fallen in place--if reader had stayed and played up to his promise, and kovacevic had been as good as advertised. we would have had youth and experience and athleticism everywhere else, and been in a position to really rumble. as it is, we'll be pretty good, even without our two truant bigs.

oh, where was martin? redshirt?

 

[grizindabox]

citay, Martin played a handful of minutes in the first half. I believe Emerson and of course Cherry were the only guys not to play.

 

[citygriz]

citay, Martin played a handful of minutes in the first half. I believe Emerson and of course Cherry were the only guys not to play.

good enough. i missed the first half. maybe i'm responsible for this loss. we were up seven when i tuned in, and lost by seven. that's a fourteen point turnaround on me.

not to belabor the REDSHIRT issue. but what a difference a year makes. i had no idea from what i saw last year that deshields and gregory would be this good. they've really matured into wonderful college players. meantime, wiley looked skinny and lost out there, and i suppose martin looked the same, else i would have seen him the second half. save for the phenoms that go to the big schools, a redshirt year makes so much difference at our level, but as i've said before, i don't want to offend or bore anybody on this board by belaboring the REDSHIRT issue, so let's drop it, okay?

 

[grizzlyjournal]

Citay's summation of the current state of Griz basketball, above, is right on target (can't wait to read MTGrizRule's take). It's hard to establish a balanced lineup year after year, especially (for the Griz this season) two of the key pieces (Reader & Kovacevic) would have anchored the same area. It's a factor that Tinkle is well aware of, and something he strongly emphasized in pre-game comments to Mick Holien.

As for a pressure game? To early. They're still working on getting everyone familiar with Montana's multiple offensive schemes. Don't worry, they're working on it. Don't worry about Bill Evans (until we play ISU); this is perhaps the best-balanced coaching lineup I've seen at Montana. Kerry Rupp is an excellent coach and you'll see things from the Griz in upcoming games (on defense and offense) that'll play to this team's strengths.

Lastly, I'm not as down on Montana's frontcourt as others, having observed a few practices. Ward has had to shoulder a lot of responsibility down low & is working overtime. And the other three (Martin, Wiley & especially Hutch) just need minutes & confidence. CSU did NOT dominate the Griz down low; in actuality, Ward & Hutch barely missed on several opportunities that'll improve with timing). Also, when Spencer Coleman's ankle heals, he'll help anchor Montana's rebounding core.

The exciting thing for me is how well DeShields & Gregory (zero turnovers, though a modest 2 assists) took the reins, and the promise of speed & agility flashed by K Henderson, Coleman and M Weisner (though Hendu & Coleman combined for 7 turnovers).

The learning curve with this team is high because the Griz youth have a high ceiling. As with most of the posters on this board, I'm disappointed in the fractured tempo of this game (caused by reffing), but encouraged by the promise of a talented young team.

 

[jon]

A little more thoughts on each guy and what I saw from them...

Mathias Ward - He was badly outmanned by the bigger CSU posts, and really struggled to get good shots. He had a really nice three point play in the first half, but other than that was mostly a non-factor offensively. His rebounding struggles are really glaring against a team like the Rams. Fortunately, there are no frontlines like CSU's in the Big Sky. It's pretty well-established the player he is, and obviously he will be excellent in the conference.

Eric Hutchison - I know many are not thrilled with him here, but he looked like Montana's best post defender to me, and the only guy big enough to body up big posts. Obviously he doesn't provide anything offensively, but he was the only guy out there providing some resistance for Iverson/Smith last night, and not allowing them to simply back down.

Andy Martin/Jake Wiley - I am sure in a perfect world for Coach Tinkle, these guys would be redshirting, because both are very raw. Martin played 5 minutes in the first half and got pretty well abused. He simply did not have the strength down low. I saw someone say to ride these young guys rather than giving Hutchison time, but Martin was getting eaten alive a bit down there, and looked a little stiff. Just a product of youth. Looked very coachable out there and gave great effort, and I think he will look a lot better when he is not playing someone of Iverson's bulk. He was a big dude. Wiley is obviously at athletic as all get out, but he looked a lot of times like he was just running around out there. It was tougher to get a feel on him because he played limited minutes.

Mike Weisner - Thought he gave them some really good, tough minutes, especially in the first half. Obviously still gets pushed around a little (was playing some 5 even at times), but he really battled. Really liked him.

Spencer Coleman - It took him awhile to get into the flow of the game, possibly because of the ankle, but thought he flashed a lot of talent. He doesn't look that big, but not afraid to go down to the low block, and can also step outside and knock down shots. He's going to be a really good player, no doubt about it. Liked his diverse offensive game.

Kareem Jamar - Obviously we know how good he is, so not too big of a deal that he didn't have his best game. Got frustrated by the 2 early fouls, which caused him to play just 4 minutes in the first half. They were guarding him with bigger guys like Pierce Hornung, and providing a lot of help whenever he would start to drive. Make a sweet stepback jumper in the second half, a play I don't think a lot of guys can make.

Kevin Henderson - Played even more than I thought he would, and handled himself well. He is really solid defensively and uses his athleticism well. Offensively, he is still a little lost sometimes, and is far too left hand oriented... he doesn't really look comfortable going to his right at all. But still has a nice first step and can finish if he gets down there. Made a nice pull-up jumper late that I didn't really know he had in his arsenal. Doesn't really force much offensively and knows his limitations.

Jordan Gregory - Always seemed poised, which showed in the 0 turnovers. Hit some big shots and had a nice stroke. He's really strong too, which helps in finishing at the rim. Thought he played really well defensively also.

Keron DeShields - Really impressive game at both ends. Forced a couple shots from the outside, but other than that played a really excellent game. He is just tough out there... like he feels that no matter what, he can beat his man or get a stop on his man. That's great for a leader on the team. At times it felt like he was the only one being aggressive offensively, especially when Jamar was out with foul trouble. Very aggressive taking it to the hoop and finishing, and hit a couple from outside also. Played really well defensively also. Both he and Gregory really have stepped up without Cherry in there.

 

[moose/squirrel]

I was impressed by keron last year v Long Beach state, he kept Ware in front of him the whole game after Will got into foul trouble. We did win that one against a really good squad.

I wonder if KD did something in the mean time to piss Tinks off as he didn't play that much .

I know Tinks a little, appears KD is back in the mix, seems he KD, has got his stuff together.

That means good things for this team. Let's enjoy Tink's tenure while it lasts